Not Leather Boots but Dress Shoes: White-Collar Masculinity and the Far-Right Movement

Abstract

This paper investigates whether white-collar masculinity can play a role in the life of a far-right activist. The current study employs the methods of psychosocial analysis devised by Wendy Hollway and Tony Jefferson. Using the case of a Japanese far-right activist, it explores how the hegemony and decline of "salaryman masculinity" in Japan interacted with his life. It draws attention to the suffering of white-collar men in their struggle to comply with hegemonic masculinity. These men's suffering tends to be overlooked due to their stable socio-economic status, but it can potentially play a role in their investment in far-right discourse.

Keywords

• masculinity
• far-right
• psychosocial analysis
• shame
• japan